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You are trained to fight and you fight. I too, was a regular army enlistee in a world full of draftees. For all the bitching and carping about being made to conform and learn, they did absorb the lessons, and did what they had to.

I just finished reading a historical treatment of the Pellopenisian Wars, lasting 29 years, between, mainly Athens and Sparta. It was a remarkable account in many ways but the landings in Normandy were different in very small ways from some of the battles during this period. The Athenians were rulers of the sea and attempted, and succeeded or failed, in many landings. The Spartans were rulers of the land battles yet were largely unable to project their power because of their lack of naval ability.

BTW, the Spartans won. I would judge it as a case of failed Athenian politics more than anything. Alcibiades fought for Athens, then Sparta, then Athens, and then himself. As a martial leader, he won nearly every engagement he led. Such a leader appears seldom in history, but when he does, there are certainly going to be lots of dead farmers and soldiers.